The Health Ministers of the Member States of the
South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) met on 8 April 2015 at
New Delhi for their 5th Meeting.
Prior to the meeting of the Health Ministers,
the meetings of the SAARC Technical Committee on Health and Population
Activities, the SAARC Expert Group on HIV/AIDS and of the Senior Officials
(Health Secretaries) were held during 6-7 April, 2015.
The Health Ministers resolved to strengthen
health cooperation, with particular emphasis on following areas:
(i) Aim to make SAARC region polio-free. India
offered support for technical missions from other SAARC countries for this
purpose.
(ii) Commitment to set up SAARC Supra National
Reference Laboratory for TB and HIV/AIDS.
(iii) To come together to negotiate better
prices for TB drugs and diagnostics to make these more affordable and
accessible.
(iv) Set up Expert Groups on vector-borne
diseases and holding annual meetings on Noncommunicable diseases.
(v) Inclusion of
mental health care into universal health care.
(vi) To
promote access to medicines including through the use of
flexibilities under TRIPS Agreement (World Trade Organization Agreement on
Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights) and to promote these in the
bilateral and regional trade agreements in order to protect public health
interest.
(vii)
Pursue mutual cooperation among the professional bodies regulating medicine/
nursing/ allied health, on training needs of Human Resources.
(viii) Promotion of Traditional systems of
medicine.
The Health Ministers also adopted ‘Delhi
Declaration on public health challenges’ at the close of the meeting,
reflecting the commitments expressed and decisions taken collectively by the
Health Ministers. A copy of the Delhi Declaration is given below:
SAARC Health Ministers: Fifth Meeting
DELHI DECLARATION ON PUBLIC HEALTH CHALLENGES
(April 08, 2015)
We, the Health Ministers of the Member States of
the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) have met today,
the 8th of April, 2015 at New Delhi for the 5th Meeting of the SAARC Health
Ministers, and adopt the following “Delhi Declaration on Public Health
Challenges”:
Recognizing that the SAARC Member States account
for nearly a quarter of the world population and face similar or even same
challenges in the field of public health, prevention of diseases and providing
better quality of life for our citizens;
Noting the past efforts emanating from the
deliberation at previous meetings of SAARC Health Ministers including the
meeting at Maldives in 2012, Dhaka in April 2006, Islamabad in 2005 and New
Delhi in 2003, and the progress made for collaboration and cooperation among
the Member States;
Guided by the emphasis placed by the Heads of
States or Governments at the 18th SAARC Summit at Kathmandu, Nepal on 26-27
November, 2014 on the importance of achieving universal health coverage,
improving health regulatory systems, preparedness for emerging and reemerging
diseases and the challenges posed by antimicrobial resistance and
non-communicable diseases;
Cognizant of the fact that infectious diseases
and pathogens do not recognize political and geographical boundaries, global
integration, trade, travel and commerce make all countries vulnerable to threat
of outbreaks which may emerge from any part of the globe;
Concerned that health systems and response
mechanisms require further strengthening in each country especially in
countries with less financial and technical resources;
Recognizing the dedicated work done by
healthcare workers for containing the recent Ebola virus disease outbreaks in
certain countries, and that the public health emergency of international
concern still continues including for the countries in the SAARC region;
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Noting the recommendations made by the Fifth
Meeting of Technical Committee Meeting on Health and Population Activities held
on 6th April 2015, which discussed important issues impacting the SAARC Member
States, including the need for high quality and high coverage immunization for
vaccine preventable diseases along with modern monitoring systems; action for
prevention and control of tuberculosis, vector borne diseases, hepatitis B
& C; non-communicable diseases and mental health disorders; international
health regulations and prevention of infectious diseases; preventing and
containing the threat of antimicrobial resistance; providing access to
medicines and enhancing the quality and availability of human resources for
health;
Noting the recommendations made by the Expert
Group on HIV/AIDS in the meeting held on 07-04-2015;
Noting that the Meeting of Senior Officials has
duly considered the recommendations of the Technical Committee on Health and
Population Activities, as also the Expert Group on HIV/AIDS;
Recognizing the need to accelerate efforts with
the aim to end AIDS epidemic in the region by 2030, as proposed by 18th SAARC
Summit;
Recognizing that 80% of premature deaths
associated with chronic non-communicable diseases (NCDs) occur in developing
countries, highlighting the need for a comprehensive response to NCDs;
Acknowledging the value and importance of
traditional medicines for effective healing of mind and body by making them a
holistic part of our healthcare as well as the need of sharing knowledge,
experience and the regulatory mechanisms thereon of respective Member States
for securing public health needs;
Affirm the commitment of SAARC Member States to
work together to cooperate and collaborate for addressing the identified health
issues;
Further agree to strengthen cooperation on
mutually agreed agreements for prevention and control of infectious diseases
and for sharing of information in accordance with international health
regulations and strengthening capacities for surveillance and monitoring of
disease, rapid response and expanding diagnostic facilities;
Strongly reaffirm the commitment to the
decisions taken at earlier Meetings of the SAARC Health Ministers and call upon
Member States for early implementation of those decisions;
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Declare our resolve to strengthen cooperation to
promote availability and effective coverage of affordable vaccines including
pentavalent vaccine and to also strengthen our response to make SAARC region
polio free;
Agree to take appropriate coordinated action
which may be required to be adopted by the Member States for prevention and
control of Hepatitis which is a major public health issue in the region;
Call upon the Member States to maintain the
momentum of actions under the Regional Strategy on HIV/AIDS, to share
experience and expertise in the areas of surveillance, existing and new
strategies to prevent the spread of HIV, and in rapid scale up of affordable
treatment to achieve the 90-90-90 HIV treatment target 2020, to rapidly reduce
new HIV infection and AIDS related deaths including from tuberculosis, with a
view to ending AIDS by 2030;
Welcome the proposed the SAARC Supra-national
Reference laboratory for TB and HIV/AIDS, being established in Kathmandu, the
support extended by the Member States for the same and India’s agreement to
meet the balance cost not yet met by Member States contributions;
Reaffirm the commitments reflected while
adopting the Resolution on Prevention and Control of non communicable diseases
including an action plan and monitoring framework as per the World Health
Assembly Resolution No. WHA66.10 dated 27 May 2013;
Reaffirm the commitments under the WHO Framework
Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC);
Agree to cooperate for combating mental
disorders, including autism and neuro-development disorders, through a
multi-prolonged approach encompassing a Mental Health Policy, a life cycle
approach to address the needs of such individuals throughout life, sharing of
innovations in the field of Mental Health Promotion, diagnosis and management
and exchange of best practices and experiences amongst SAARC Member States;
Agree to extend cooperation amongst the Member
States for capacity development of human resources in public health and
clinical medicine;
Agree to attach high priority to combat anti-microbial
resistance, on prevention, systems of infection control, correct prescription
and consumption practices, access to antibiotics, R&D and impact of
antibiotic use in agricultural and animal husbandry sectors, while also
carrying out assessment of the financial and other resources required therefor;
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Decide to enhance regional collaboration and
partnership in health research among SAARC countries by identifying the nodal
technical officers from respective health/medical research councils/units/departments,
to provide list of scientists, researchers, investigators from each country to
develop and undertake joint collaborative research projects in the prioritized
areas, to provide the list of laboratories ready to offer training/ exchange expertise
with other member states and to organize Research Methodology Workshops;
Agree to cooperate in improving the standards,
clarification and regulatory mechanisms for drugs and pharmaceuticals with a
view to promote availability of quality, safe, efficacious and affordable
medicines in all SAARC Member States;
Reiterate our resolve to promote access to
medicines including, if necessary, through the use of TRIPS flexibilities and
encourage to take steps to promote these in the bilateral and regional trade
agreements in order to protect public health interest;
Agree to cooperate in the field of traditional
systems of medicines, including by encouraging visits of experts, organization
of symposia, promotion of courses on traditional medicine under international
fellowships or country support programmes, upgradation of educational
standards, quality assurance and standardization of drugs, improving the
availability of medicinal plant materials, research & development,
awareness generation, etc.;
Agree to holding of annual meeting of the
Technical Committee on Health and Population Activities to facilitate
intra-regional cooperation and implementation of decisions taken in the earlier
meetings of SAARC Health Ministers.
The decisions adopted in the SAARC Health
Ministers’ Meeting will promote regional cooperation to address the common
health challenges in the SAARC countries, including in India.
The
Health Minister, Shri J P Nadda stated this in a written reply in the Lok Sabha
here today.
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MV/LK